Entrepreneurship Survey of the EU25
The EU25 survey on entrepreneurship looks at people’s general perception of entrepreneurialism and their entrepreneurial activity. It examines the motivation, choices, experiences and obstacles linked to enterprise and self employment. The results help EU policy makers to understand problems and develop future policy responses.
The 2009 survey is based on data from interviews with over 26,000 persons in 36 states. The survey includes the EU27, the EEA/EFTA countries (Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland), Turkey and Croatia. As in the past the United States of America were also covered by the survey. The 2009 survey is the first time countries from Asia (Japan, South Korea and China) were included in the Eurobarometer.
The UK were bettered only by Sweden on the entrepreneurial activity index and this high score was mirrored with a higher than average score on each of the indicators of the entrepreneurial climate index – a more human response indicating opinions and perception as opposed to the quantitative data of the activity index.
The survey shows the UK has a positive entrepreneurial activity rating which may lead us to expect a positive entrepreneurial climate in the country: indeed, the UK scores better than the EU25 average for most entrepreneurial climate indicators.
This positive climate does not, however, mean that more individuals in the UK prefer to be self employed. It is seen that equal shares of the respondents say they prefer to be self-employed or to be an employee.
Studying the entrepreneurial profiles, it is noted that a majority of the UK sample belong to the
“pull” category (i.e. someone with a low perception of the financial
difficulties related to a business start-up, high risk tolerance and a
high probability that they started their business because of an
opportunity), and almost none of the entrepreneurs are classified as
being in the “push” category (i.e. someone with a high perception of the
financial difficulties related to a business start-up, low risk
tolerance and a high probability that they started their business out of
necessity).
In summary, results from the survey show that 45% of all Europeans would like to be their own boss if they could. Preference for self-employment has remained stable for Europe but has significantly decreased in the US. The survey also shows that young people are more inclined to start a business than older generations with 52% of those aged 15-24 preferring self-employment.
To see the complete report please follow this link: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-analysis/eurobarometer/index_en.htm